Picking up where we left off yesterday, we now can identify why certain drugs are banned before other performance enhancing substances, and where the use and abuse of performance enhancing drugs began. It is their recent abuse, however, that has stunned the international sports community and its fans. Over the last two decades, the world has been shocked time and time again by athlete after athlete being caught or admitting to using PEDs. This trend may not have begun without significant events taking place around the world that helped set into motion the attitudes, availability, and controversy surrounding steroids we have today.
World War II had a surprising impact on the world of performance enhancing drugs. In 1935, scientists in Germany developed what would become the first anabolic steroid to aid in deficiencies in testosterone. There were reports that the drugs were then tested on those held in prison camps, and even Adolf Hitler. During this time, virtually every Ally and Axis power was distributing amphetamines to their soldiers on the front lines as a way to combat fatigue and maintain an alerted state. They frequently used cocaine in pill form, as the effects were far greater and longer lasting than its powdered form, while being easier and more convenient to travel with.
After the war, scientists from both sides saw that steroids could have use in non-combat related fields. The cold war began shortly after, and soviet scientists, doctors, and coaches allegedly began using steroids on their weightlifting athletes. This in turn led to the adoption of anabolic steroids in the United States and the United Kingdom. While the negative effects of steroids were relatively unknown at the time, stigma was already growing in the world of sports. Many saw it as cheating or gaming the system, and this belief became so widespread that the International Olympic Committee banned the use of anabolic steroids in any form. Less than ten years after the ban, the 1983 Pan American Games were held, and were the first international sporting event to include accurate steroid testing for the time. The events were plagued with controversy; fifteen athletes tested positive for steroids, leading many others, including a dozen American track and field participants, to withdraw from the games under suspicious circumstances. Overall, twenty-three medals, eleven of which were gold, were stripped from athletes. This event helped shape the modern attitudes towards steroids and PEDs that we still hold today, as these games dealt a devastating blow to sports communities and those who cheered for them around the world.
In the thirty odd years since the Pan Am Games in Venezuela, dozens of high-profile athletes have been outed as drug or steroid users. The 1988 Olympics in Seoul were plagued with controversy when Ben Johnson, a record-breaking Canadian sprinter, tested positive for steroids after breaking the world record and receiving a gold medal. Both his record and medal have now been stripped from him, and he was banned from participating in many events for the rest of his career. Wrestler Chris Benoit was found dead in his home, after murdering his wife and child. Tests found over nearly 10 times the average amount of testosterone in his body. Multiple baseball players, such as Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds were outed or under suspicion for heavy steroid use. Mark McGwire, one of the most famous baseball players of the 1990s, admitted to using steroids for a majority of his career. Lance Armstrong, a household name in America, admitted to using PEDs during his career, despite strongly opposing the claim during his career.
Steroids will seemingly always find their way into sports, but organizations like the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency are doing all they can to prevent dangerous drug abuse in sports. With the Rio Olympics on the horizon, one can only hope to have an Olympics without all the suspicion, controversy, and fear we’ve seen in the years leading up to it.
